Alison Stewart

Alison Stewart is the host of TED Radio Hour, a co-production of NPR and TED launching in April 2012.

In each episode, Stewart leads a conversation based on talks given by riveting speakers on the world-renowned TED stage and centers. Each show is centered on a common theme—such as the source of happiness, crowd-sourcing innovation, power shifts, or inexplicable connections. Stewart brings those themes to life by probing into how ideas get inside people's heads to open up a whole new picture, create fresh approaches to old problems, and offer new ways to think and create.

Prior to her current role, Stewart has been hosting the PBS news magazine Need to Know since 2010. In January 2012, Stewart filed a report for CBS' 60 Minutes about an Emory University student facing criminal fraud and impersonation charges for taking the SAT and ACT for fellow students.

In 2007, Stewart was the founding host of NPR's breakthrough multiplatform news program, The Bryant Park Project, the first public radio news program to seamlessly incorporate audio, video, and social media. She also guest-hosted the NPR's Weekend Edition and Talk of the Nation.

While working at MSNBC, from 2003 to 2009, she created and hosted the show The Most, a news program based on the most popular news on the web. She anchored major news events including Hurricane Katrina and the Hezbollah/Israel conflict. Stewart reported live from the 2006 Olympics in Torino, Italy; and contributed to NBC Nightly News; The Today Show; and Weekend Today. She was the substitute host for MSNBC's Countdown and The Rachel Maddow Show.

For two years prior to MSNBC, Stewart served as an anchor of ABC News World News Now. While at ABC News, she reported live from the World Trade Center on 9/11 and contributed to the Emmy Award awarded to ABC News for coverage of the terrorist attacks. During this time she also served as a contributor to Good Morning America and 20/20 Downtown.

Over the course of her career, Stewart has reported from the floor of six presidential conventions and has interviewed President Bill Clinton, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Bono, Elizabeth Warren, 9/11 commissioner Tom Kean, Mark Pollan, and Broadway director Julie Taymor. Her interviews have also featured House Speaker Newt Gingrich, radio personality Howard Stern, authors Carl Hiassen and David Grossman, humorist Amy Sedaris, movie titan Steven Spielberg, and U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher.

Stewart began her career as a political reporter for MTV News, working on the channel's "Choose or Lose" election coverage in 1992 and 1996. She was honored with a George Foster Peabody Award for MTV's coverage.

In 2009, Stewart was named one of "The Root 100," recognizing emerging and established African-American leaders.

She graduated from Brown University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and American literature.